EU leaders will announce a change that could dramatically affect the refugee crisis

A
Syrian refugee father holds his daughter while he and hundreds of
others line up at the Greek-Macedonian border February 27, 2016
as the border crossing is reopened briefly near the Greek village
of Idomeni.REUTERS/Yannis
Behrakis

The Balkan route, used by hundreds of thousands of refugees to
reach northern European countries after they reach Greece, will
be closed.

According to POLITICO, EU ambassadors discussed the plan on
Sunday afternoon and in a document seen by journalists agreed
that “Irregular flows of migrants along the Western
Balkans route are coming to an end; this route is now
closed."

The statement is set to be approved by EU leaders on Monday
at a summit with Turkish officials in Brussels.

Last week, Donald Tusk, president of the European Council,
met with leaders from countries all along the Balkan route and
appealed to economic migrants not to come to Europe, as
he warned that "No European country will be a transit
country."

Europe is still scrambling to present a unified front and
find a pan-European solution to the refugee crisis.

According to POLITICO, the EU leaders' aim is to return to
a normal situation within the Schengen area by December. Over the
last week, EU officials had once again reiterated that the
priority should be to secure the external border of the bloc in
order for internal borders to remain open.

As the European Union tries to tackle the biggest migrant crisis
it has been faced with since World War Two, it also seeks
Turkey's help to stem the flow of refugees and is pressuring
Ankara to hold up its part of a €3 billion (£2.3
billion) deal struck a few months ago. Turkey has
already agreed to take back Syrians rescued at sea.

According to data from the UNHCR, more than 138,000 migrants have
already reached European shores this year, and 410 people have
died while attempting the crossing of the Aegean Sea.